Title/Take a look at the skin of Kanggan Shengshi. In fact, it's just shiny on the surface and decadent on the inside.

Text/old hat

Theft Warning/This number has signed a contract with "Knight of Rights Protection", which can monitor the theft of goods on the whole network in real time. Please observe the moral bottom line, and you will be caught if you reach out!

After the Qing dynasty entered the customs, there were two good emperors, Kangxi and Qianlong, and Kangxi was even boasted as the first emperor through the ages. During the years of Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, Cheng Kang was even beautified as a prosperous time. In fact, the so-called Kang Gan's prosperous life can't stand scrutiny, which is largely the result of the self-boasting of the Qing Dynasty. On the other hand, it can also be said that that period was a relatively prosperous period. The so-called relative prosperity is relative to the famine during the war in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. In modern times, people who were worried about foreign invasion were poor. In 268 of the Qing Dynasty, only the Kanggan era was relatively better, that's all.

(Kangxi statue)

The Kanggan period lasted for more than 30 years, from 1662, when Kangxi succeeded to the throne, to 1796, when Qianlong abdicated to Jiaqing. It was a relatively stable period in the Qing Dynasty, with social and economic recovery and political stability. However, if we put this period of history in the historical background of China, it is not a prosperous time for the following reasons:

(dragon image)

People still call it the prosperous time of Kanggan. An important reason is that the economic aggregate of the Qing Dynasty was the first in the world at that time, but don't forget that the population of the Qing Dynasty was also the first in the world, and it accounted for one third of the world's total population. In terms of per capita value, the economy of the Qing Dynasty was very average. Moreover, the economic quality of the Qing Dynasty cannot be compared with that of the West, because the West completed the industrial revolution and the Qing Dynasty was still an agricultural country. Although there are some handicrafts, they are by no means industries in the modern sense.

Even if it is simply compared with agriculture, agriculture in the Qing Dynasty is not as good as that in the West. At that time, the per capita grain in the Qing Dynasty was 200 Jin, while the per capita grain in the United States was close to 1000 Jin. Every farm in Britain has a steam engine, and the Qing Dynasty still uses the most traditional farming methods. But British and American agriculture is only a small part of the economy, and the Qing Dynasty is almost the whole of its economy.

On the whole, the economy of the Qing Dynasty was inferior to that of the western powers.

At that time, the western countries had completed the bourgeois revolution, and the Qing Dynasty was still intoxicated with the dream of the Chinese empire. Western powers have long been eyeing up to carve up this backward and decadent country that feels good about itself, but the Qing Dynasty not only knew nothing, but also tried to appease Siyi and let them come to Korea. The Qing dynasty has fallen behind the west politically for an era without knowing it.

(Qianlong likes to put on airs when he receives British envoys)

From the beginning of Kangxi, the foreign policy of the Qing dynasty was determined, and the policy he determined was basically to close the country. This Kangxi is very strange. Personally, he likes western modern science very much. He invited many western missionaries to teach him modern scientific knowledge. He was indeed the most profound scholar in the Qing Dynasty. But sadly, modern science and technology has never left the palace, which has nothing to do with the economy and life of the Qing Dynasty. On the contrary, Kangxi rejected foreign trade very much, and basically pursued the policy of closing the country to the outside world, and there was no change from his resignation to Qianlong's resignation. There was only limited trade between the Qing Dynasty and the West, and the purpose of trade between the Qing Dynasty and the West was fundamentally different. The trade in the west is for the pursuit of profits, while the trade in the Qing Dynasty is to appease the four foreigners, which is entirely for political purposes. The politics of the Qing Dynasty lags far behind the West.

People always criticize the closed-door policy of the Qing Dynasty. In fact, the biggest responsibility of closing the country to the outside world should be attributed to Kangxi.

The backwardness of economy and science and technology in Qing Dynasty is consistent. In the Qing Dynasty, there was neither economy nor science and technology in the modern sense. The Qing Dynasty basically ate the capital of science and technology culture, that is to say, the science and technology culture left by China in ancient times hardly developed in the Kanggan era. On the other hand, in the west, technology and culture can be said to be advancing by leaps and bounds. Steam engines and various machines are widely used in industry, and the rapid development of industry in turn promotes the progress of science and technology. This benign development of western economy and technology did not happen at all in the Qing Dynasty.

China has always attached importance to selecting scholars in the imperial examination, which greatly promoted the development of grass-roots culture in China. However, in the so-called prosperous period of Kanggan, ordinary people rarely read books, and a large number of farmers don't know a word. At that time, there were no schools in the modern sense in China. Private schools were responsible for national education, but few people could afford private schools.

Moreover, san huang has made great efforts in literary inquisition, and the destruction of ideology and culture is unprecedented, at least reaching a peak in history.

(The literary inquisition can best reflect the scientific and cultural situation in the Kanggan era)

The people's life can best reflect the prosperity of Kanggan. /kloc-in the 0/7th century, a British mission came to the Qing Dynasty. One of the envoys, John Barrow, wrote: "As soon as we landed on land, we found shocking poverty everywhere, which was completely different from what we imagined ... Every time we received leftovers, we were always grateful. People greedily compete for the tea we make. ...

(CoCo Lee people in the prosperous time of Kanggan)

So the so-called kanggan heyday is an illusion, even a joke. It's just gold on the face in the Qing Dynasty. The real Kanggan era, full of crisis, has begun the prelude to being beaten later. If there really was a so-called prosperous period of Kanggan, there would not be such a fiasco as the 1840 Opium War. Because it is only 40 years since Qianlong abdicated, the A Qing Dynasty, which has just experienced a prosperous period, will not decline to that extent.